Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 15 -- Ras Laffan Natural Gas Co. (RasGas) awarded five Japanese firms a joint contract to ship LNG from Qatar to the US. The contract is the firms' first for transport of LNG to North America.
Trading house Mitsui & Co., along with shippers Mitsui OSK, Nippon Yusen KK, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd., and Iino Kaiun Kaisha Ltd., secured a 25-year contract to take effect in August 2008.
The contract covers about 5.2 million tonnes/year of LNG, or eight LNG tankers out of the 12 that Ras Laffan plans to use.
The Japanese firms plan to spend a total of 200 billion yen to build eight 210,000 sq m ships, which can carry about 45% more than conventional LNG carriers.
The ships will be built by South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. and Hyundai Heavy Industry Co.
Early this month, RasGas III ordered 12 LNG carriers worth $2.9 billion total, three South Korean shipbuilders reported (OGJ Online, Aug. 10, 2005).
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
